


Not Guilty

by FeralRomantic



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mortal, Annabeth and Luke are Siblings, Domestic Violence, M/M, Multi, Murder, cover-up, there is blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-06 02:19:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19053268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralRomantic/pseuds/FeralRomantic
Summary: Jason Grace is living the dream: a bachelor in the big city, working as a teacher, with great friends and a bright future. But he has also gotten himself involved in the brutal death of his downstairs neighbour.





	1. The Night in Question

They are yelling again, downstairs. Jason can he every word, despite the pillow on his head.

_You´re a fucking liar!_

It reminds him of how his parents used to fight, in the evening when his dad´s come home from work with some other woman´s lipstick on his collar yet again. He couldn’t sleep back then and he can´t sleep now. Usually he can deal with it. It´s not the first time they have fought like this, not even this week (it´s fucking _Wednesday_ ) but Thalia is out tonight and so, he is alone in their apartment and with these two lovebirds in the one underneath.

 _Fuck! You!_ A door slams.

Fucking hell, Jason has work tomorrow. Can´t they stop? Or finally break up? Everyone who has ever met them knows that they´re not happy. They fight _constantly_. Jason has seen Luke bring home people that aren’t Percy more than once and heard what he did with them. Doesn’t Percy know?

_You fucking cheater!_

Oh, he does. But why are they still together? Jason has met them both, knows how confident Percy is, how much he laughs and how there are always new hickies on his neck, like on a lovestruck teenager. He knows that Luke likes to wrap and arm around his shoulders, kiss his cheek and mess with his hair. And that he also likes to fuck random people in their bed. Jason truly doesn’t understand why they are still together. Maybe because he doesn’t date. Or maybe it´s just his jealousy, because that stupid little crush on Percy just doesn’t seem to go away, no matter how many other people he tries to like.

_I thought you loved me!_

He does, Luke, he does, Jason thinks. Otherwise he wouldn’t put up with you. Another door slams and he hears a groan. Then another. And another. What are they even doing down there? Jason presses the pillow onto his face with both hands, until he needs to gasp for air. It won´t last much longer, he knows. Pretty soon he will hear the bedsprings creaking. And then he can go to sleep and try not to think of what they are doing down there.

But he hears something else instead.

_I swear to god, I´m going to kill you!_

Well, this is a new one, Jason thinks to himself, just as he hears Percy yelp in pain. And that worries him. He listens closely, even pulls the pillow off his head, but nothing. Okay, something is wrong. Jason sits up, swings his legs over the edge of the bed. He gives it another listen. Silence. Jason stands and goes to find his shoes, pulling a random hoodie over his pyjamas as he goes. Maybe he should call the cops, he thinks as he closes the apartment door behind and makes his way down the stairs. But a) he´s left his phone on his nightstand and b) Luke _is_ a cop. Jason doesn’t trust cops. If one has just _murdered_ his _boyfriend_ , they probably know how to cover that up. His palms are starting to sweat and he tightens his grip on the switchblade in his pocket. He grabbed it off his dresser just in case. He needs to see if Percy is alright, even if there is a dangerous killer in there. Either is a hero or an idiot.

 

By the time he reaches the door, he´s decided that he is an idiot. This is reckless and a bad idea and oh, would you look at that, he is already knocking.

No answer.

“Hello? Percy? Is everything okay?”

No answer. He tries the doorknob. It´s unlocked. The door swings open slowly, revealing a completely ravaged living room. Jason clutches the switch blade and steps inside, fully expecting to find Percy´s dead body. But this wasteland of a lounge seems vacant, safe for overturned furniture, empty beer bottles and three fist-sized holes in the wall. Those were not slamming doors, Jason realizes. _Fuck_.

“Hello?” he calls out again. “Anybody here?”

Still, no answer. Maybe Luke has fled the scene. He should get out of here and call the police, Jason realizes, but something in him makes him move on and so he checks the kitchen – there he almost steps into the remains of a glass he has heard shatter earlier – the bathroom – empty – and at last reaches the closed bedroom door. He knocks. No answer. But it´s not locked, so he takes a deep breath and steps inside.

The scene he enters is that of a nightmare. The sheets have been torn off the bed, items shattered everywhere. The curtain rail is hanging off a thread. And then there is the body, slumped against the wall by the window, lifeless and limp. And oh god, the blood. So much blood. Splattered all over the wallpaper, soaking the carpet and dripping off the knife _he_ is still holding.

Jason turns slowly to look at him, where he is frozen in place, face white as a sheet, eyes wide as saucers. And covered in fresh, glistening blood.

“What the fuck,” Jason says.

Percy slowly turns to look at him like he´s only just know realized he is there. Maybe he has. The knife slips out of his bloody fingers, lands on the carpet with a dull clang. His face is motionless, but his voice breaks as he says:

“You have no idea what he did to me”

Jason stares at him, his heart stopping when he suddenly realizes that the blood on Percy´s shirt _is not Luke´s._ It comes running from his nose and split lip, and from a wound on his forehead that Jason knows will need stitches. Jason´s heart breaks clean in two.

“Oh Percy,” he whispers and closes the gap between them with a single step. “Oh Percy, I´m so sorry” Without thinking, he engulfs him in a hug and Percy clings to him like Jason is the only thing keeping him alive. The heavy stench of blood fills Jason´s nose, mixed with the scent of just _Percy,_ and his heart is pounding so hard he knows Percy can feel it just like he can feel Percy´s – time stands still for a few breaths.

And then Percy bursts into tears.

He doesn’t stop crying for what feels like forever, while Luke´s blood is drying on the wall and Jason is starting to feel sick from the smell and he _knows_ he needs to call 911, but he doesn’t. Somehow, he doesn’t. It´s like his brain has switched off and his heart is in the driver´s seat and his heart only cares about Percy right now. And about that he is crying and covered in blood and is in _pain_ , because _Luke fucking hurt him._

He watches in agony as Percy tears himself away from his embrace and stumbles over to Luke – no, his _body_ , dropping to his knees and taking his face into his hands.

“I´m sorry,” Jason hears him whisper and it´s a stab to the heart to hear how _broken_ he sounds. “I´m so sorry,” Percy whispers again and Luke´s dead eyes just stare past him, cold and blue.

Jason can´t bear it anymore and he lays a hand on Percy´s shoulder. “Come on,” he says and his voice sounds wrong when it comes out. “Percy. Come on, let´s get you out of here”

Percy nods mechanically but doesn’t move. Jason has to pull him to his feet and lead him out of the apartment, leaving behind a knife, a bloodbath, and the dead body of Percy´s lover.

Thalia is home and she almost drops her phone when she sees them come in, a bloody Percy leaning against Jason, both white as ghosts.

“Wha-“ she begins but stops mid-question, staring at Percy in mild horror.

“It´s… he…” Jason struggles to explain, but to his surprise, Percy does it for him.

“I killed Luke,” he says, voice void of any emotion. “Because if I hadn’t, he would have killed me”

Thalia swallows. Then she says. “Did you call the police?”

Jason shakes his head. “Luke is a cop. They would have-“

He doesn’t need to say any more, Thalia understands. “I´ll deal with it,” she says. “You go take care of him, okay?” She puts on the big-sister-voice, that makes Jason feel okay, but also makes him move his ass. And Percy´s. To the bathroom, that is.

He sits Percy – who has turned back into a statue, but who can blame him – down on the toilet seat and reaches for the first-aid kit.

“Let´s get you cleaned up,” he says and his forced cheerfulness feels inappropriate but also strangely necessary. If he doesn’t pretend that this is normal, that it _will be okay_ , Percy might just completely fall apart right in front of him. He fumbles for the antiseptic wipes.

“This could sting a little,” he tells Percy and gets no reaction out of it. Percy doesn’t even wince when Jason wipes the blood off his face, his hands, cleans his wounds. “Your forehead definitely needs stitches. I´ll go get my sewing kit, I´ll be right back, okay?”

No indication that Percy has heard any of that. Jason sighs and stands, pulling himself up by grabbing the sink. The suturing kit is in one of the kitchen cupboards, precisely the one Thalia is seated on top of right now. She is talking to someone – Reyna, he guesses – on her phone and texting someone else on Jason´s. Jason motions for her to move her legs and she pulls them up without interrupting either conversation she´s having right now. Jason only catches bits and pieces – _dump him in an alleyway, mugging gone wrong, Nico, meet you here in an hour._ He doesn’t have it in him to care right now.

Percy looks almost passed out by the moment Jason returns, staring blankly from under half-closed lids.

Jason crouches down in front of him again. “Percy?”

Percy blinks.

“Luke?” His voice is hoarse.

“No, uh, it´s Jason” Jason unzips his kit. “You need stitches, okay?”

Percy frowns ever so slightly, reaching up to touch the gash on his forehead. He winces.

“No, don’t touch it” Jason gently takes his hand away. “I´m going to stitch that up, okay?”

“Okay” Percy barely even flinches as Jason sews his forehead back together.

Thank god for military school and its medic-classes, Jason thinks as tosses his suturing kit into the sink, where it joins the bloody antiseptic wipes.

“Where´s Luke?” Percy asks softly.

Something hurts inside Jason´s chest. “Luke is downstairs, Percy. You´re in my apartment”

Percy slowly turns his head to look Jason in the eye. “I killed him” It´s not a question. Percy is not as out of it as Jason originally feared.

“You´re freezing,” Jason says because he can´t think of anything else and it´s true. Percy´s bare arms and legs are covered in goosebumps. The blood is slowly drying on his shirt and boxers. Jason fights down an urge to tear them off of him, just so he can burn them in the alley. “Let´s get you some of my clothes, okay?”, he proposes instead.

Percy nods faintly.

Jason sits him down on his bed and tosses him the first pair of sweatpants he can find, and a hoodie. “Want me to give you some privacy?”

Percy shakes his head, which makes him frown. Head hurts, Jason knows. He watches with worry as Percy pulls on the pants, then has to supress a gasp as the bloody shirt comes off, revealing a landscape of bruises, older and new, all over his ribs, reaching up to his collarbones. _Not hickeys_ , he realizes with a shudder. _Fuck. That asshole deserved to fucking die._

Thalia knocks on the open door, making them both jump. She looks at Jason, a deep line between her eyebrows. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure” Jason shoots one last look at Percy, who is picking at the dried blood on his shirt, and follows her into the kitchen.

“He looks like shit” is the first thing she says and Jason, to his surprise, huffs out a dry laugh.

“Can you blame him?”

She half-smiles. “No” Thalia pushes herself up to sit on the countertop again, Jason leans against the fridge. He can tell by her face what she wants to say.

“I know, I should have called 911. Shouldn’t have dragged us into this.” He sighs. “I care about him”

“I know you do,” her face goes soft. “But we can´t call the cops this late, that would just make shit worse”

“Plus, I don’t trust the cops”

“Me neither” Thalia drums her fingers on the countertop. “I called Reyna, and Will and Nico. We´re going to figure out what to do with the body”

Jason´s eyebrows fly up in surprise. Reyna he gets, she can solve literally _any_ problem, but Will and Nico?

Thalia reads his face like a book with particularly big letters. “He needs medical attention,” she says, nodding towards Jason´s bedroom door. “And if anyone knows how to get rid of a body, it´s Nico”

“True,” Jason admits. He stares at his hands. There is blood under his fingernails and in the wrinkles of his knuckles. He hasn’t bothered to properly clean himself up yet, much to occupied with Percy. Speaking of Percy- “I´m going to get him a glass of water”, he says. “Don’t want to leave him alone for too long”

Thalia nods. “They should be here any minute now. I´ll let you know”

Jason nods and, like a robot, fills a glass of water from the tap and trudges back to his bedroom.

 

Percy has fallen backwards on his bed, eyes closed and clutching the bloody shirt in his right hand.

Jason knocks on the doorframe and he opens his eyes. “Hey”, Jason says.

“Hey”

Jason feels helpless. He sits on the very edge of the bed, holding the glass of water like it´s made of- well, glass. “I got you some water”

Percy sits up with a pained groan, nodding. He gulps down the water in one go once Jason has handed it to him, then clutches the glass tightly. “I just fucking killed my boyfriend”, he states.

“Yeah”, Jason agrees awkwardly.

“Fuck”

“Yeah”

“I´m going to jail” Percy takes a shuddering breath, falls backwards on the mattress again.

“You´re not going to jail”, Jason says as firmly as he can manage.

“I fucking _killed_ my _boyfriend_ ” His voice breaks on the word boyfriend and something painfully cracks inside Jason´s chest.

“We´ll figure it out”, he mumbles and awkwardly pats Percy´s ankle. “My sister called some friends and we´re making a plan, okay?”

“Okay”

They are silent for a few heartbeats, Percy staring at the ceiling, Jason staring anywhere but at Percy. Sirens wail in the distance. Percy visibly tenses up, Jason´s breath catches in his throat. But the sirens fade into the noise of the night a few seconds later, away from them and, more importantly, away from the dead fucking body in the apartment downstairs.

“Why are you helping me?” Percy asks after another minute of silence.

 _Because I have a huge fucking crush on you and also serious helper syndrome_ , Jason thinks. But he can´t possibly say that. Percy sits up again and Jason avoids his eyes. He´s a terrible liar and a simple `I don’t know´ just wouldn’t cut it.

“I-“ he begins just as voices fill the apartment and there is a knock on the bedroom door, sparing him the answer. It´s Thalia.

“They´re here”

 

Six people is a record for their small kitchen table, so Thalia and Reyna have found a seat on the countertops.

“Uh,” Jason says when they have found a seat. “Thank you for coming”

“Who are these people?” Percy asks beside him, his arms wrapped around himself.

“You know my sister Thalia, and that´s Reyna, Nico, and Will”, Jason quickly introduces them and Percy nods slowly. Only Will offers a small smile. Everyone else just looks tired. The clock on the microwave reads 1:15 AM.

“Let me guess,” Nico deadpans, dark eyes fixed on Percy. “You´re the merry murderer”


	2. Covering Ones Tracks

Jason fully expected Percy to flinch at Nico´s words – the _merry murderer_ , what the hell – but he just nods. His face is completely blank.

The others seem a little more conflicted. Thalia is drumming her fingers on the countertop; Reyna is chewing on her hair.

“Does anyone want some tea?” Will asks, hastily getting up from his seat and already reaching for the kettle.

“No one needs fucking tea right now, Will, sit down”, Nico groans. He seems far too collected for this kind of situation.

“Actually, I would like some”, Jason says, just to be nice.

Will shoots him a grateful glance and puts the kettle on.

“Okay, so, what´s our situation?” Reyna asks once the water starts to boil.

Jason shoots a glance at Percy, who seems to be completely out of it. So, he explains.

“So, in conclusion,” Reyna says when he is finished, “we have a bloodbath and a dead body downstairs, no one bothered to call 911 and you”, she jabs a finger at Jason, “have no alibi and your DNA all over that scene”

“Yes,” Jason says.

“And now we´re all involved”

“Yes”

“Fan-fucking-tastic” Reyna leans back against the kitchen tiles.

“Look,” Thalia says, “we need to figure out how to get rid of the body first, we can worry about details later”

“Is he still down there?” Nico asks and Jason nods. He tightens his grip around his mug, even though it is burning his fingers.

“I was thinking we could dump him in a river somewhere,” Thalia says.

Next to Jason, Percy quietly begins to cry.

“Hey, hey, hey”, Jason says quickly, trying to put a careful arm around him, only to have Percy flinch away. He shoots a helpless glance at his friends and to his relief, Will speaks up.

“Hey, Percy, is it? Let´s go have a look if Jason stitched you up okay, yeah? Come on, I can give you something for the pain”

Percy nods ever so slightly and allows for Will, who has already shouldered his backpack, to help him stand up and lead him over to Jason´s bedroom. Jason shoots Will a grateful glance and receives a reassuring smile. Then the door shuts behind him.

“Good thing he keeps stealing painkillers at work,” Nico mumbles, a hint of pride in his voice.

“Yeah” Jason is clutching his mug again. “So. The body”

“Yes,” Thalia says. “I was thinking we should dump him in a river”

“Which river, the fucking Hudson?”, Nico says, “No way. Too risky”

“Burn him”, Reyna says. “Or chop him up and dissolve him in acid”

“Where the fuck are you going to find acid this quickly?” Nico objects again and she throws her hands up.

“You have a better idea?”

“Actually, I do,” he says, brushing a strand of hair from his eyes. “Percy stabbed him, right? So, we dump him in an alley, then call the cops and say we found a body, and they´ll think it was a mugging gone wrong. This is a shitty neighbourhood as it is”

Reyna shakes her head. “They can tell he was dumped there; he would have had to bleed out in that alley”

“Also, don’t the cops know him? He´s one of them,” Thalia adds.                  

Nico works his jaw, clearly dissatisfied.

“What about the morgue?” Jason asks him.

“What about it?”

“Can´t we bring him there? Burn him or something?”

“I´m sorry, you want me to smuggle a body into the hospital morgue so we can cremate him there to cover up a murder?” Nico´s voice gets louder with every word. Reyna reaches out to lay a hand on his shoulder. He lets out a long, annoyed breath.

“It was self-defence”, Jason says.

“Oh, okay then”, Nico starts again, “You want me to risk my job to cover up a self-defence killing for your fucking _neighbour_?”

“He´s not just my neighbour!” Jason is getting louder now, too. “And this isn’t just some random accident, this-“ He catches himself before he really starts shouting, takes a deep breath. “This is just what happened to my mom, okay? Only that this time, the right person died and I can´t just do nothing, okay, I can´t just sit here!” His throat feels like it´s filled with wet sand, his eyes are burning.

Reyna is pale as a ghost.

Thalia´s jaw is clamped so tight she might just break her own teeth. A single tear rolls down her cheek. She doesn´t bother to wipe it away.

Nico looks at her, then at Jason, then down at his hands. “Fine”, he says quietly. “But you owe me one”

 

They spend a good hour hatching a plot. Will and Percy don’t come out of the bedroom for the entire time and Jason can´t imagine that a medical exam could take that long. He´s grateful for Will and his people skills and that he gets a moment to gather his thoughts and to figure out how to actually help Percy instead of staring at his injuries and wishing he himself could kill Luke _again_.

It takes them exactly 57 minutes, 15 weird google searches and six coffees between them until they have a cohesive enough scheme to call it a night. Reyna almost slips of the counter twice because she keeps nodding off and Nico gets grumpier and grumpier as time progresses, therefore everyone is glad when Jason finally mumbles a “okay, so let´s do it that way,” in between yawns and then gets up to knock on his bedroom door.

“Come in,” Will calls out quietly and Jason opens the door. Percy has fallen asleep on his bed, curled up and clutching a pillow. Will is sitting cross-legged by his side, sorting through his collection of pills-in-small-bags-that-definitely-aren´t-stolen. He smiles up at Jason. “You did a decent job with those stitches”

“Thanks” Jason manages to return the smile. “Sorry to keep you up so long”

“Don’t worry about it”, Will gathers his drugs and gets up, patting Jason on the shoulder as he walks by. “I know he is your type”

 

Percy sleeps until well after noon the next morning. Jason has called in sick to work and is grading papers at the kitchen table when he hears him shuffle in.

“Morning” He earns a grumble in response.

Percy looks like hell. There is a crust of dried blood under his left nostril and the cut on his forehead is scarlet red against his sickly pale skin.

“You sleep well?” Jason tries again and receives an affirmative groan. “There´s some coffee left in the pot” He turns his attention back to the papers in front of him, just to give Percy some space and not make his staring _too_ obvious. He only looks up again when Percy plops down in the chair next to him, mug in hand.

“Work?” He asks and Jason can tell it´s the first word he´s spoken all morning. His voice is raspy. It suits him.

“Yeah. Some papers I have to grade”

“You´re a teacher?”

“Yeah. Latin” Jason turns a page.

“Huh” Percy watches him, slowly sipping his coffee. “I don’t know shit about Latin. I took Greek” He absentmindedly blows into his mug before a look of realization crosses his face. “Shouldn’t you be at work right now?”

“Took a day off,” Jason says without looking up.

“Because of me?” Percy sounds much more awake now. “And I took your bed, too, didn’t I? You slept on the couch?”

“It´s fine,” Jason insists, even though his back still aches and he must have only gotten about two hours of actual sleep.

“No, no, I-“ Percy makes to get up, but Jason reaches for his arm, stopping himself before he touches him. He doesn’t want Percy to flinch away again.

“Sit down, it´s okay,” he says as gently as possible and Percy reluctantly obeys.

“You don’t have to do this for me,” he says. One of his hands is resting around his mug but the other is clenching and unclenching so rapidly it looks almost like a nervous spasm.

“It´s okay,” Jason says again.

“No, no, really, you-“ Percy takes a shaky breath. “I didn’t mean to drag you into my shit. This isn’t your problem to solve. I mean, give me one good reason why you should be fucking helping me!”

“Civic pride?” Jason tries and it gets a huff out of Percy that might have been a laugh. “Or maybe fate”, he adds, a little more quietly. “Who knows”

“Fate,” Percy mouths, visibly thinking about it.

They fall silent for a while, Percy drinking his coffee, Jason grading paper after paper.

Then Percy speaks again. “Is he still down there? Luke?” He says the name like it hurts to. It probably does.

“My friends are coming by in the evening to help clean it up. We have a plan” Jason avoids meeting his gaze. He is scared of the emotions it might bare.

“A plan?”

“Yes”

Another moment of silence

“Are you going to tell me about your plan?”

Jason puts his red pen down. “Okay” He takes a deep breath and starts to explain.

 

Around seven, when the sun has just set, Nico comes over with the car he borrowed off a colleague, Will in the passenger´s seat. Minutes earlier, they have each posted a photo – Will of them having dinner together, Nico of movie night. Each picture could be dated more or less exactly, by the help of a calendar in the background and a fresh tattoo, still scabbing, on Nico´s arm.

Jason awaits them by the mailboxes, key to Percy´s apartment heavy in his pocket.

“He in already?” Nico asks immediately, adjusting the bag on his shoulder.

Jason nods. “Went in about fifteen minutes ago. Still gives us somewhere between half an hour and an hour”

The He in question is Percy – tasked with getting himself an alibi for the disposal of the body and with starting to spread the story. Right now, he is sitting in their elderly and definitely slightly demented downstairs neighbours´ living room, having tea and sobbing about how Luke just packed his bags and left after a fight, that he wasn’t answering his phone and that Percy is so _worried_.

“Alright” Nico nods. “Then let´s get this shitshow over with”

Getting into the apartment is easy enough, thanks to the key, but actually _being_ there is rough. The chaos makes even Nico swallow dryly and make his way through as quickly as possible. Will lets out a stifled yelp when they reach the bedroom. Jason swallows to fight his gag reflex but it´s no use. He barely makes it to the bathroom sink before his stomach turns itself inside out. It´s a swift endeavour, not much coughing or retching involved. He gives himself a moment to breathe after he has rinsed his mouth and catches his own reflection in the mirror staring at him in horror.

“What the fuck am I doing here?” He says it to himself out loud and flinches at the sound of his own voice. It seems to loud, too disruptive, in a place like this. Someone _died_ here. And he is about to get rid of the body.

Fucking hell.

The blood is as gruesome as he remembers it, splattered everywhere and dried to an ugly brown. Will and Nico are already at work, trying to roll the stiffening body into one a bed sheet. As Jason kneels down to help them, he notices that someone has closed Luke´s eyes.

 _Thank god,_ he thinks. _I don’t think I could be doing this if he was watching me._

 

Once the body is stuffed into the trunk of the car, they split their ways – Nico and Will heading to the morgue to cremate him, Jason heading upstairs to start cleaning up the apartment.

To his surprise, he finds Percy already there, standing in the bedroom, staring at the stain on the carpet his lover has left. The knife looks too heavy in his hand, handle wrapped in a washcloth and steel glistening in between dried blood stains.

Earlier, when Jason explained the plan, he asked if Percy wanted to say goodbye one last time. Percy shook his head. “I think I already said everything I needed to say”

When Jason asked about his ashes, Percy just shook his head again, lips pressed together tightly and hands balled to fists.

He is wearing the same expression now as he kneels down to run a single finger along a long splatter of dried blood. “I loved you, you bastard” Jason hears him whisper. It is the voice of a broken man. A single tear runs down his cheek as he hands the knife over to Jason, who takes it wordlessly. Reyna is going to take it with her when she drives down to San Francisco next weekend, dumping it somewhere on the way.

“You need a minute?” Jason asks after he´s stowed the knife away in his bag and Percy shakes his head.

“I just want this over with”

They get to cleaning. Percy insists on doing the bedroom, eagerly scrubbing away at the blood with a bleach-soaked cloth. But it doesn’t feel right to Jason to leave him alone and so he busies himself with cleaning up broken picture frames, swiping shards of glass off the mattress and putting the sheets back on the bed. Neither of them speaks a word. It starts to rain outside, the sound mixing with that of the traffic nearby, and Percy sits back on his heels and groans in frustration at the stubborn stains he just can´t scrub away.

“We can just put a rug over it,” Jason tells him quietly, smoothing out the last blanket and standing up straight. “And paint the wall a darker colour. I think that´s in right now”

Percy nods silently, jaw locked tight, and tosses the cloth to the floor. “Living room,” he says firmly and Jason obeys.

They spend hours putting furniture back in its place, making the apartment look like it has never seen a more gruesome crime than maybe turning the music up past ten PM. Somewhere in between heaving the armchair back on its feet and hanging photos over the holes in the wall, Jason gets a text from Nico.

_You sure he doesn’t want the ashes?_

Percy is sure. “Dump them wherever,” he insists and drops a stack of magazines on the coffee table. “I don’t give a shit”

Jason doesn’t quite believe him, but texts Nico back a _Just throw them in the Hudson or something_ nonetheless.

Nico sends a thumbs up. Jason feels sick.

 

“We should probably take some of his clothes,” Percy says once the lounge looks like an IKEA showroom. “He would have packed a bag, right?”

“What?” Jason asks distractedly. He tears his eyes away from the closed bedroom door to look at Percy.

“He would have taken a bag,” Percy repeats. “If he had left me”

“Right,” Jason says. Why didn’t he think of that? “Want me to..?”

Percy waves a dismissive hand. “It´s fine” It sounds convincing enough, but Jason still follows him to the bedroom.

He hates the idea of Percy having to be alone in there. Be alone with what happened. With what he did. Or maybe Jason is the one who doesn’t want to be alone in here right now.

Percy seems totally unbothered as he steps over the last remaining stains and pulls a backpack from the closet, stuffing random clothes from the dresser drawers inside. “Can you grab his boots from the hall? By the front door, the brown ones,” he asks Jason without even looking at him.

“Sure”

He finds them easy enough. When he comes back to the bedroom, Percy is sitting on the mattress, face buried in what looks like a sweatshirt. _It´s Luke´s_ , Jason realizes. _He´s smelling it_. He considers backing out of the room again, giving him a minute, but something in him decides against it.

“Percy?”

Percy looks up. His eyes are wet. “You got the shoes?”

Jason holds them up. “Yeah”

“Great” Percy stands and reaches for them. “Great,” he says again, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his jacket.

“You okay?” Jason doesn’t know what to do with his hands, so he shoves them into his back pockets, which feels far too casual.

“Yeah” Percy sniffles and wipes his nose again. His knuckles are white around the fabric of Luke´s sweater. “I mean, I have to be, right? I _did_ this. This is _my_ doing. So, I don’t get to be fucking upset. I fucking _did_ this,” he says again. A single tear rolls down his cheek, he angrily wipes it away.

Jason suddenly feels like he´s intruding, not just in this moment, in Percy´s life, his apartment, his relationship and this _fucking murder_. “I- I´m sorry, I should go,” he says and is already backing away when Percy reaches out and catches his wrist.

“Don’t-“ He squeezes Jason´s wrist, just a tiny bit. “Please don´t go. I-“ He swallows. “I don’t want to be alone” He lets go of Jason, then. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” Jason says a little too quickly. “Yeah, of course”

Percy takes a deep breath and his shoulders drop. For a second, they both stare at the backpack by their feet.

“So,” Percy says, “What now?”

“Paint the wall, I guess”

“I guess”

 

They agree that Jason takes the trip to the hardware store alone before it closes, leaving Percy to figure out the rug-situation. They rendezvous about an hour later, equipped with paint, roller brushes, trash bags, and a rolled-up carpet Percy admits he has pulled out of a dumpster.

“Which dumpster?” Jason asks, eyeing the rug in suspicion.

“Behind the pet barber” Percy says. “It was the only one I could find. Which colour´d you get?”

“Navy blue” Jason shows him the label on the can. “Thought it would fit the room”

“I like blue,” Percy shrugs somewhat awkwardly.

“I figured”

The bedsheets are blue. So are the shower curtain, the throw pillows on the blue couch, and half the shows by the door.

They paint. Jason opens a window to let some fresh air in and along with that comes traffic noise, chirping birds and the melodies of a nearby busker. The stench of death slowly dissolves or maybe he is just too used to it by now. But it´s nice, overall, at least kind of, to be standing in his crush´s bedroom, barefoot on a carpet of trash bags, paint on his arms and his shirt and finally, _finally_ , over the blood stains. Took them three fucking layers. Thank god for quick-drying paint.

“Is that the fucking sun?”

“Huh?” Jason asks, wiping his forehead with his forearm. He looks out the window. “Yeah, it is. Have we been painting all night?”

“Guess so” Percy huffs out what sounds like a laugh. “Fuck” And then he starts fully laughing, like the sun coming up is hilarious or maybe this whole situation is and Jason doesn’t know why but it´s infectious and so he laughs, too.

“Nothing-“ he gasps out between hysterical giggles, “about this – is funny”

“Absolutely nothing” Percy snorts. “We should not- we should not be laughing”

“No,” Jason agrees, still laughing. “My stomach hurts”

“Mine too” Percy gasps for air, trying to calm himself down.

“ _Nothing_ about this situation is normal,” Jason decides once they have calmed down enough to form a coherent sentence without giggling like a maniac.

“I don’t even know what was so funny” Percy gathers the roller brushes from the trash bag-carpet.

“Me neither” Jason slaps the lid back onto the empty paint can.

Percy slides past him, holding their brushes. “Can you deal with the bags? I´m just going to rinse these”

“Yeah, sure” Jason stares after him as he leaves the room, cheeks burning. Murder scene or not, that´s still his crush. And Jason is still a hopeless romantic and a huge gay.

 

“You got paint on your face,” he tells Percy when he comes back from his trip to the dumpster. It´s true. There is a long smudge of navy across his right cheek.

“Well, now, so do you,” Percy shoots back, reaching out and wiping a hand wet with paint water across Jason´s face. Jason has to turn away to hide his blush. _Coping mechanisms_ , he tells himself. _That´s all this is. Just like the laughter, he needs this so he doesn’t fall apart._

Jason has to get ready for work soon after. Percy stays in his own apartment while he showers, downs four (4) coffees and gathers the papers he fortunately finished grading in the afternoon. Just when he is about to leave, Percy appears in the doorway, a duffel bag hanging off his shoulder.

“Sorry I kept you up all night,” he says.

“No biggie,” Jason replies and feels like an idiot. “You, uh, you can take my bed while I´m gone”

“No, actually,” Percy hooks his thumb under the strap of his bag. “I´m going to stay with my mom for a while. She didn’t really believe me when I said he ran away and…” he shrugs. “She´s my rock, man. And I haven’t seen her and my sister in a while, so…” He waves a hand around, as if it could snatch the words he´s looking for out of thin air.

“You have a sister?” Jason asks dumbly.

Percy nods, a small smile on his lips. “Estelle. She´s six. Haven’t seen her since Christmas”

“Long drive?” Jason is still awkwardly holding his papers, the meter between them feels bigger with every breath.

“Just a few subway stops” Percy grins but there is no joy behind it. “Luke wasn’t big on visiting family”

“Ah.”

“Yeah”

The meter is starting to turn into the Grand Canyon. Jason feels a strong urge to jump into it and never emerge again.

“Do you know when you´ll be back? Because you can always stay here” he adds quickly, as if that makes his question seem any less clingy.

“I´ll let you know,” Percy says with a glint in his eye that Jason doesn’t know how to interpret. He produces a phone. “Just put in your number, okay?”

Jason nods and quickly gets to it. Percy´s wallpaper is a photo of him and Luke, arm in arm at some party. He can´t help but notice how much he likes Percy in a suit. His cheeks are burning when he hands the phone back.

“I guess I´ll see you”

“Yeah, I guess”

 

They end up walking to the train station together, which is both an awkward and strangely comforting few minutes spend in relative silence. Percy whistles, a Led Zeppelin song whose name Jason can´t remember but he doesn’t ask because he doesn’t want to interrupt.

It´s a strange sort of goodbye on the platform, but what do you say to someone you barely know but helped clean a crime scene? In the end it´s Percy who goes in for the hug and Jason clings to him maybe a little too much and a little too long. And he definitely blushes too deeply when he watches the train doors close behind Percy.

It´s selfish for him to want Percy to stay, he knows that. But he can´t help it.

How the fuck did he get caught up in this?

 

Percy is gone for a full week until something else exciting happens in Jason´s life. That is, unless you count teacher´s lounge gossip or Thalia hitting a rat in the alley with a kitchen knife thrown from her bedroom window as exciting. Jason does not. In fact, he´s not even sure if _exciting_ is the word he would use in place of, for example, fucking _alarming_ to find a girl he doesn’t know sitting on the stairs between Percy´s and his apartment. In the end he settles on _very impractical_.

“Can I help you?” He asks after deciding that he is not going to just walk past her like she´s a dishwasher he´s hoping Thalia will empty instead. He already has a bad feeling about who she is. Blond, tall, a gaze so intimidating it makes him stand up straight just to withstand it. So she either is the long-lost third Grace Sibling or-

“My name is Annabeth Chase” She stands up to shake his hand. “I´m looking for my brother, Luke”


	3. Stick To The Story

He invites her inside for a coffee, because he doesn’t know what else to do, especially after she reacts to the whole breakup story with what can only be described as aggressive scepticism (maybe the short temper runs within the family, he wonders).

“I just don’t believe he would take off like that!” She exclaims across their mugs and the kitchen table.

“Yeah, no, me neither,” Jason says while texting Percy about it under the table. They barely exchanged anything beyond _You okay? – Yeah_ over the last seven days, but this seems noteworthy enough for Jason to type out a novel on WhatsApp while awkwardly glance up at Annabeth Chase every few seconds.

Percy doesn’t reply right away, he never does. Jason would call him, but he can´t think of anything more suspicious than that and so he slips his phone into his pocket and brightly smiles at Annabeth Chase.

She raises an eyebrow at him. The smile slips right off his face.

“Do you have any idea where he might have gone?” he asks, remembering that he is supposed to be a concerned neighbour. “Percy is worried sick”

“No idea” She looks away from him, through the small living area at Jason´s bedroom door and he shivers with the thought of her having the slightest idea of what went down in there just a week ago. “It´s not like him to just… go”

“Hmm” Jason stares at her hands around her cup. Delicate, no wedding ring. Clear nail polish. Could probably strangle him with ease.

“And Percy is staying with his mother?” She asks, finally looking back at him.

Jason nods hastily. “He said he couldn’t stand being alone in there. That everything reminds him of Luke or something”

“I understand,” she says. “Any idea when he´ll be back?”

Jason shakes his head. It´s not a lie. Percy doesn’t tell him shit.

Annabeth nods slowly, her eyes narrowing. “You don’t happen to have a key, do you? I need a place to stay while I´m in town”

Jason almost chokes on his coffee. “A place to stay?”

“Of course,” she says nonchalantly, her eyebrow rising just the slightest bit. “I am not leaving until I find my brother”

 

Jason calls Percy from the fire escape outside his bedroom window.

“We have a problem,” he blurts out as soon as Percy answers.

“What?” Percy croaks after a second of stunned silence. He doesn’t sound good.

“His sister is here!” Jason hisses into the phone, sending quick glances to his closed bedroom door. He fears she might be eavesdropping.

“What?” Percy asks again, though it sounds much more alarmed this time.

“Yes! And she says she´s not leaving until she finds him!”

“Shit”

“Yes, shit! I mean, what the fuck are we supposed to do, kill her too?” Jason barely hears himself. If he did, he would feel even sicker than he does already.

“Re _lax_ ,” Percy says lowly through the phone. “It´ll be _fine_. I´ll talk to her, okay? I´ll be back in less than an hour”

“No!” Jason says it louder than he means to. With another panicked glance at his bedroom door he continues more quietly. “I mean, isn’t that super suspicious? To come back just when she shows up?”

“Is it? I can just say that you called because she´s looking for him. Anyone would come back then, right?” Percy sounds far too calm for this whole situation and that somehow makes Jason even more panicked.

“I guess,” He gives in.

“See” Percy sounds like he´s smiling or maybe Jason is imagining it. “Just keep her busy until I´m back, okay?”

“Okay,” Jason chokes out.

“See you in an hour”

 _Click_.

 

It is the longest hour of Jason´s life. He is already bad at small talk and the prospect of going to jail looming over him is not helping. Anything beyond `What do you do for a living?´ elicits The Eyebrow from Annabeth (she´s an architect, by the way) and so they settle on the very original topic of The Weather. But there are only so many times Jason can claim that it´s supposed to be getting warmer soon and for her to reply that is already quite warm for March and both of them are glad when there is a knock on the door. Jason almost knocks his chair over backwards as he sprints to open it.

Percy. With his duffel bag in hand and wearing Luke´s hoodie.

“Hey,” Jason says and his relief is a little too obvious because Percy grins amusedly before replying:

“Hey yourself” He sounds tired and he looks tired, with stubble on his cheeks and bags under his eyes. But he also seems… better, in a way. Jason doesn’t know how else to describe it. He carries himself with an easy confidence and his fingers are still instead of tugging on and fumbling with whatever is in reach. His wounds are healing well.

“Oh wow,” Annabeth says when she sees him, having stood from her chair. “What happened to your face?”

“Fell down the stairs,” Percy replies and the lie leaves his lips so easily Jason is certain he must have used it many times before. “Nothing serious. You´re here about Luke” It´s not a question.

Annabeth straightens her back. “I am. Do you know where he is? He´s not texting me back, I think his phone is off”

 _No, it´s at the bottom of the Hudson river_ , Jason thinks. _Now please leave._

“Wish I knew,” Percy sighs, dropping down on a kitchen chair. “I tried calling him over and over but…” He trails off, shrugging helplessly. “I miss him,” he adds quietly.

Jason wonders how much of this Concerned Boyfriend Act is real and how much is, well, an act. He can´t say for sure. He´s not sure he wants to know.

Annabeth reaches across the table and takes Percy´s hand. “I´m sure he´ll come back,” she says softly and Jason suddenly becomes painfully aware that he is still standing halfway between the table and the door and that he is probably not wanted in this very private moment.

“I´ll be in my bedroom,” he says mechanically and nopes the hell out of there.

 

He calls Thalia from the fire escape and when she doesn’t pick up, Nico.

“Jason” He greets him with less of an attitude than Jason normally gets. “What´s up?”

“Percy is back,” Jason says and he doesn’t like that his voice breaks at that. “And Luke´s sister is here”

“Oh shit,” Nico says and there are some noises like he is fumbling with the phone. “One second, I need to close the bedroom door, Will is sleeping in there, he was on the night shift” Jason hears the soft click of a door closing. “There. Okay. Luke´s fucking sister?”

“Yes,” Jason says. “Says she won´t leave until she finds him”

“Shit,” Nico says again. “Did you tell her the break-up story?”

“I don’t think she bought it. Percy´s talking to her right now” Jason nervously looks back at his closed bedroom door, then down into the alley past his feet. “What are we gonna do?”

“Hey, calm down,” Nico says, like Jason isn’t _so super fucking calm, god damnit!_ “We just can´t have her get the cops involved, that´s all”

“Maybe we could text her from some burner phone and pretend to be Luke?” Jason gnaws on his lower lip. He wishes he knew what they were talking about in there.

“Maybe,” Nico says. “But let´s wait what Percy can do first, okay?”

“Okay” Jason swallows thickly. He is not liking any of this.

“How the fuck did you get yourself involved in this, Jason,” Nico says. “This is so messed up”

“I know,” Jason says quietly. “I just- I like him, is all”

“I get that,” Nico says softly. “I mean, I would do anything, fucking _anything_ , for Will, but you barely know the guy. Are you sure you want to keep doing this?”

“I mean, I kinda have to, right?” Jason says weakly.  “I´m involved now”

“Yes, you are,” Nico sighs in resignation. “You were always too kind for your own good”

Jason doesn’t know what to say to that.

“Listen, I have to go wake Will and get him to his doctor´s appointment,” Nico says. “Call me later and tell me how it went, okay?”

“Okay,” Jason says. “Wait, doctor´s appointment? Is he sick?”

“Some old shit is making trouble,” Nico replies. “Nothing serious. Don’t worry about it. Later”

“Later”

 _Click_.

 

Annabeth is gone when Percy knocks on his bedroom door hours later. He looks even more exhausted and has ditched the hoodie. It´s hanging over the back of a kitchen chair, so Jason decides to sit on a different one.

“Is she gonna go to the cops?” Is the first thing he asks and Percy shakes his head as he leans against the counter, a coffee in his hand.

“I, uh, I told her that Luke wouldn’t want his little side-business exposed,” he says.

“Side-business?”

“He dealt drugs in high school”

“Jesus, Luke was a cop who dealt drugs on the side?”

“Nope,” Percy grins slyly. “He dealt in high school. But I convinced her that he still did”

“Huh” Jason stares at the floor tiles for a second before speaking again. “Where is she now?”

“Hotel room,” Percy says. “I told her there was barely any space in the apartment and that I wanted some time alone. Think she bought it. But who knows if we can keep her quiet for long”

Jason swallows thickly. “Yeah” He commences his tile-staring for a moment then asks: “Are you hungry? Because I´m starving”

 

They make pasta, because it´s the only thing Jason really knows how to cook well. The mood is lighter than it should be, given their circumstances, but Jason would be lying if he said that he doesn’t enjoy it. Percy has put on music, some band Jason doesn’t know but likes, and they are joking and laughing and completely ignoring the fact that at Annabeth Chase´s will, they could be going straight to jail.

“Are you okay?” Jason asks when Percy´s gone quiet, over at the table where he is chopping basil.

“Yes,” he answers a little too quickly and Jason turns away from the stove and to face him. “No, I really am,” Percy insists, putting down the knife and looking Jason in the eye. “More than I should be, I think”

Jason is quiet at first, just searching Percy´s face for reason for him to worry. “You seem… better, without him,” he eventually says and feels stupid for it.

“I feel better,” Percy says, sucking in his bottom lip and then releasing it again. “I miss him, but… not like I should”

“I get what you mean,” Jason says quietly, even though he´s not sure if he does.

Percy huffs out a smile, looking away for a heartbeat and then back at Jason. “Thank you,” he says.

“It´s no big-“ Jason starts again but Percy cuts him off, pushing away from the table and walking towards him.

“No, seriously.” He says. He is so close Jason can see patterns in the green of his eyes. “Thank you” And then he pulls Jason into a hug and Jason hugs him back before he even knows what´s happening and his heart is beating so fast he feels it might explode.

 

 

“Thank you,” Percy says again, late at night, from his mattress on Jason´s bedroom floor. “I still don’t understand why you´re helping me”

“Guess I´ve always been to kind for my own good,” Jason repeats Nico´s words from this afternoon. He doesn’t mean for it to sound so salty, but it does. Percy picks up on it.

“I´m sorry I dragged you into this,” he says quietly. “I don’t know how I could ever repay you”

“You don’t have to” Jason stares at the ceiling in the dim glow of the street lights outside. “I dragged myself into this”

They fall silent, so long that Jason thinks Percy is asleep, but then he hears him whisper.

“I can´t sleep” And then, a minute or so later, “Every time I close my eyes, I just see his face”

Jason opens his eyes and in the dim light of a slowly passing car, sees Percy sitting up on his mattress, looking at him. Something in him reacts before he does and he lifts up one side of his covers. He doesn’t need to say it out loud. Percy gratefully crawls in next to him, dragging his own bedding behind. He takes a moment to arrange himself, tucking his own blanket around himself and adjusting his pillow, while Jason is trying to keep his heart rate in check. He feels like he is fifteen and on a sleepover with his crush, not offering half his bed and all of his heart to the guy who brutally stabbed someone.

Jason _knows_ it was self-defence. He doesn’t blame Percy for what happened. But he too can´t get the stare of Luke´s cold dead eyes out of his head.

 

He runs into Thalia in the kitchen the next morning, a rare occasion since she usually sleeps in a little later than he does.

“Morning,” he says and startles her so much she almost drops the newspaper she has been reading.

“Morning,” she says after her initial scare and tosses the paper onto the table. “The merry murderer still asleep?”

It´s a nickname Jason doesn’t appreciate and Percy thankfully doesn’t know about, but it seems to stick among his friends. “Left early,” he says, reaching for the coffee pot. Percy accidentally woke him when he got out of bed at fucking 5:30 AM. `I gotta get to work,´ he whispered. `Sorry´ `Where do you even work?´ Jason mumbled back, huddling the covers around him. They smelled like Percy. `Aquarium´ Percy whispered as he pulled on his jeans, then swooped in to kiss Jason´s forehead before leaving. `I´ll see you tonight,´ was the last thing he said before he was out the door.

 _Probably just force of habit_ , Jason tells himself now that he is thinking about it, _like how you say_ Bye, Love You _to the delivery guy on the phone._ He sips his coffee and eyes the newspaper on the table before him. “Since when do we read the paper?”

“Just trying to see if there are any Cop Gone Missing headlines yet,” Thalia replies. “Nothing so far” She is eyeing him kind of strangely and after a few seconds, Jason´s had enough.

“What?”

“You´re a rebound. The rebounds of all rebounds,” she says and not without sympathy. “I hope you know that” When Jason just stares into his coffee she continues speaking. “He just lost his boyfriend and is probably not being himself. You barely know each other and he might just be looking for someone to help him cope. It´s not like you´re going to be boyfriends, all sunshine and rainbows, you get that, right?”

Yes, Jason gets that. And the thought has crossed his mind before. But he doesn’t want it to be like that. After a second of strained silence he looks at his sister, eyes wet when he doesn’t want them to be. “I know that,” he says quietly, “But can´t I just enjoy this while it lasts?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does anyone want to read a prequel of how Solangelo got together in this universe? i have some old notes lying around


	4. The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kinda short, so im posting it back to back with the other one

They settle into a routine, the three of them. Thalia is gone most of the time, busier at work than ever before, and Jason and Percy have the apartment mostly to themselves. Well, except Annabeth, of course. Much to their dismay, she shows up almost every day with what she believes to be news about Luke´s whereabouts or questions that are getting harder and harder to dodge.

Jason is exhausted, he realizes when he plops down on their shitty couch one evening after Annabeth has finally left. She isn’t easily palmed off and he has never been a good liar. His back hurts and his head is spinning and he still has papers to grade.

“Fuck this,” he says to himself out loud.

“Fuck what?” Percy asks, appearing in the doorway. He is lacking a top (by which Jason means a t-shirt, of course) but pulls one on quite quickly. Still, Jason saw that some of the bruises still have not disappeared completely. His mood immediately becomes even worse.

“Everything,” he says. “Fuck this couch, fuck Annabeth and fuck and I mean, _fuck_ my ninth-graders”

Percy laughs. “Scoot over,” he says, then plops down next to him on the couch. “Well,” he says, looking at Jason with a hint of amusement. “Fuck it, then. Let´s do something else”

“Yeah? Like what”

“Wanna watch a movie?”

Jason snorts. “How creative”

Percy hits him with a pillow. “You got a better idea?”

“No,” Jason admits and Percy laughs.

“Movie it is. Do you guys have Netflix?”

Jason shakes his head.

“Okay, then we´ll use mine and Luke´s account”

While Percy puts in his info, Jason waits for the guilt to kick in. He is using a dead man´s Netflix, while on the couch with this dead man´s boyfriend, fighting the urge to grab said boyfriend by the face and kiss him. But it doesn’t come. And Jason is not sure if that is good or bad.

“Brokeback Mountain?” Percy asks, flicking through the movies section.

“Can you be any more of a queer?” Jason asks and Percy laughs.

“So yes?”

“Sure” Jason sighs. He can´t fight his smile. “Why not”

 

Jason has seen the movie more times than he likes to admit. He´s watching Percy instead, his reactions, his expressions, the way he chews on his bottom lip during tent scenes and wrinkles his nose at every other line. Percy catches him staring a few times and at first, Jason gets embarrassed and looks away quickly but he learns that when Percy blushes, it´s not because he is uncomfortable.

“What are you looking at?” He grins when he catches Jason again and jerks his chin at the TV. “That´s where it´s at, Jay”

“Sorry,” Jason says even though he´s not. Percy chuckles. His arm is warm where it is touching Jason´s. And his thigh. And his lips, when he suddenly leans in and kisses Jason on the mouth. Jason is so taken aback he doesn’t react at first but then something in him clicks and he pulls Percy in, hands on either side of his face, _closer_ , _closer_ , _closer_.

Percy is the one to pull away after a few eternal seconds, panting and blushing. He catches Jason´s hand when it is about to leave his face, holds it close.

“Woah,” is all Jason can manage, a mere whisper, more like a sigh, and it makes Percy laugh.

“Yes,” he mutters, pressing his warm face into Jason´s palm. “Woah”

“Can we- can we do that again?” Jason´s heart is beating so fast he fears it might explode.

“Yes,” Percy whispers again and tugs Jason closer.

The second time is even more amazing than the first. It leaves Jason breathless in the best way possible, his heart is taking leaps of joy and his cheeks are burning so hot it almost hurts. _Holy_ _shit_. Percy looks just as stunned, his face flushed and his eyes wet.

“You okay?” Jason whispers when a single tear slips out. He wipes it away with the pad of his thumb.

“Yeah” Percy nods, leaning into his hand again. “Just a lot of emotions”

Jason laughs quietly. “Me too,” he whispers, curling his fingers into the unruly locks behind Percy´s ear. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Not now,” Percy mutters, pulling him in again.

 

They end up on Jason´s bed somehow, hands scrambling to get their clothes off. The window is wide open, but the outside noises are being drowned out by their panting, Percy´s small laugh when he can´t work Jason´s belt buckle and Jason´s heart pounding in his ears. And elsewhere.

“Aren´t we going much too fast?” Jason asks between heavy breaths. “Like, aren’t we supposed to wait a little?”

“Do you want to stop?” Percy asks, his roaming hands still on Jason´s chest, warm and heavy.

“No,” Jason admits, swallowing thickly. Holding the gaze of Percy´s darkened eyes is making his heart pound even harder. His skin is tingling where Percy´s hands have touched it. “No, not really”

“Good,” Percy whispers, hooking his fingers into the waistband of Jason´s boxers. “I don’t either”

“I figured” Jason looks down at Percy´s briefs, blushing even harder.

Percy laughs quietly, leaning down to kiss him. “You need to stop talking, Jay,” he whispers against his lips. And then his hand is around Jason and he couldn’t speak if he tried to.

 

“What the fuck are we doing here, Percy?” Jason asks later, when they are showering together.

“Showering,” Percy jokes. He is crouching in the tub, inspecting the soap bottles until he settles on one.

Jason only half-grins. “No, really,” he says, looking Percy in the eye when he stands up again. “I mean, what is this?” He gestures between their bare chest, unsure of how else to express it. _Rebound_ , Thalia´s voice echoes in his head. It makes something twist in his gut.

“Look,” Percy sighs, but not with annoyance. “The way I see it, we could go to jail any day now. The guy I thought was the love of my life is dead because I killed him and you are the best person in the world because you are helping me” He wraps an arm around Jason´s waist, pecks his lips. “I like you, Jay,” he says quietly. “And I have a feeling that you don’t hate me, either” When Jason nods sheepishly, he chuckles lowly. “See?” He draws small circles on Jason´s back, his eyes blue like the evening sky. “Let´s figure this out as we go along,” he whispers. “Because you are the only person I trust with this mess right now”

Jason nods again, at a loss for words. He believes every word of what Percy has said and he is sure that Percy believes it, too. But that doesn’t mean he is not without doubt. Percy isn’t himself right now. They are both in the most unusual of situations. Jason doesn’t know much about relationships and he is certain Percy doesn’t either, at least not about healthy ones. This could easily go very wrong and Jason would be left broken-hearted when he should have known better.

But Percy´s right. They really _could_ be going to jail. Jason´s life could be over any day now. What happened less than half an hour ago could have been the last sex of his life, until he accidentally drops the soap in the prison showers one day. So why not take the risk? His heart is already in it, it has been since the very beginning.

 _Fuck it,_ he thinks to himself and Percy almost drops the soap bottle in surprise when Jason grabs him by the waist, pushes him against the tiles and kisses him like his life depends on it.

Because right now, it does. If Jason can´t convince himself that this, _them_ , is going to turn out okay, he might just completely go insane.

 

 

Thalia reacts less than enthusiastic to Jason´s mumbled confession at breakfast the next morning.

“You _fucked_?” She says it like others would say _Stole a car_. “Seriously?”

“He likes me!” Jason defends himself. “And I like him. We are two consenting adults, Thalia”

“And as Americans, you have the God-given right to have your stupid butt sex as much as you please,” she deadpans, tapping her fingers on the morning paper.

“Did you seriously just say _butt sex_?” Jason asks but she ignores him.

“You even look like Luke,” she says. “I said it once and I will say it again: You, Jason Grace, are. A. Fucking. _Rebound_.” She slaps her flat palm on the table with each syllable.

Jason stares into his mug. “We could all be going to jail, Thal,” he says quietly. “Who cares if I´m a rebound. I´m just happy to wake up next to him in the morning, okay?”

She looks at him with more sympathy than he expected. “I just don’t want to see you getting hurt”

“You won´t,” Jason says, but they both know it´s a lie.

 

Percy wakes up screaming that night, like most nights before. He bolts upright in bed, taking the covers and Jason´s slumber with him. His outcry makes Jason´s blood run cold and he grabs Percy by the shoulders, shaking him.

“Percy,” he tries, “Perce!”

The screaming stops abruptly when Percy looks at him. His face softens immediately, the fear leaves his eyes. “Luke,” he says, voice thick with relief. “Luke, you´re here!”

 _No, it´s me!_ Jason wants to shout. _Luke is gone, he is dead! I am not Luke!_ But he doesn’t. “Yes, I´m here,” he whispers instead, pulling Percy close and holding his head to his chest. “It´s okay, go back to sleep”

Together they get settled under the covers again, Percy clinging to Jason like his life depends on it, while Jason pets his hair like a robot. Percy drifts off quickly, snoring softly on Jason´s chest. But Jason doesn’t fall back asleep all night, he is still awake when Percy´s alarm goes off for work.

 _He was just confused and scared_. He repeats the phrase in his head for the millionth time. _Luke is dead, because Percy killed him, because Luke was evil. But even when he´s dead, he´s still keeping Percy from me._

_He was just confused, god damnit. And I sure as hell am not some fucking rebound, either._


End file.
